How to disable Files On-Demand in OneDrive MacOS? It's enforced since the last update ...

You didn't ask me, but I moved to pCloud and am very happy. Mac client works fast and smooth, and the iPhone app is also good. What made me recommend them now is that they replied within a couple hours on support when I sent a message to their Facebook page. I also like that they offer a 500GB plan, which suits my ~300GB perfectly. The best thing: they have a backup-feature for OneDrive (and other services), so to move all your files, just enter your login info and pCloud takes care of the rest. It's a bit slow, took 2 days, but worth it.

I'm not associated with pCloud in any way, I was just really happy with them when OneDrive went to hell and took my files with them.

Wow! Thanks for the quick responses. That's very helpful.

I have a full backup in Azure ATM. It's the only thing that gives me warm fuzzies.

I'm going to do some testing with Google Drive/One before I commit paying for it, and to syncing all my files.

Mirroring is exactly what I'm after.

Glad to hear indexing works.

Lack of dark mode is not a show-stopper.

Hopefully the Windows client works well.

I'm also somewhat concerned that the Mac OS changes might bork things with Google....

I really like the GoogleDrive mirrored option as well.

Come on Microsoft....fix this mess and give us back a functional solution....

For the time being, I have also moved my files out of OneDrive, and into Google Drive as I have already used it before.

With the current Google Drive client that was released last year you need to be aware that it only does file streaming (= files on demand) OR mirroring (fully downloading all files). There is no selective sync i.e. you cannot select just a few folders to sync. (Old Google Drive app had the selective sync option similar to OneDrive's.)

There's a thread on Google Cloud Community regarding Spotlight and not fully synced files (= when using file streaming). I'm mirroring all the files, so all are available locally, and Spotlight is indexing them just fine, including all the contents.

It mounts itself as more or less network storage which works fine (files go into the local bin when deleted, Quick View works, Spotlight works, etc.) but there's no word from Google yet on whether that system will also be impacted by macOS 12.3 changes. I guess it technically shouldn't be but I don't know.

The client is an M1 native app and though some posts also refer to it using large amounts of memory or CPU, I've not had any issues with it in the past two weeks. It seems to be less processor-intensive than OneDrive.

I completely moved over to Google Drive two weeks ago after I realised that OneDrive was broken (and seems will stay broken!) - it took ages and loads of bandwidth as I have 400 GB that used to be synced to OneDrive - but now that it's done, I'm really happy with how it's working. I've had no issues with syncing and all of my files are being safely backed up AS WELL AS existing on my local hard drive (the reason I paid extra for a 1 TB hard drive rather than 512GB, Microsoft!!) ... I need to have local access when I'm travelling and there is unreliable network connectivity.
I shopped around, considered Dropbox and other cloud storage options, but Google Drive was the cheapest I found for a known and (hopefully) reliable company so I went with their 2 TB plan, which I'll share with my family members.

I have to agree with everyone here! This is terribly presumptuous of Microsoft to reach into my computer and delete thousands of files, so I can no longer have to search for them with Mac Finder. One of the most invasive overreaches I have seen a tech company make.

As others hear have said, I too am going to look for another solution.